Making Things Work
by Lillystream
Summary: Maki likes her roommate, Kaede. Kaede has a girlfriend. Things were already complicated until she found herself liking her roommate's girlfriend, Miu, too.


Maki's eyes snapped open.

They were at it, _again_.

She laid there, exasperated, as she heard the tale tell sound of bed springs and moaning through the wall next door from her roommate's room.

Maki felt a bit ashamed of just laying there, listening. She really could go somewhere else… but it was also one in the morning and she didn't really feel like getting mugged or waking up Kaito to ask if she could crash on his couch. Again.

Irritation coursed over her and she fought not to growl. She'd never met Kaede's girlfriend; but she'd certainly heard her. Whoever the girl was, she keened like a bitch in heat whenever Kaede brought her over. And she was over often.

She'd been fighting off her crush on her super pretty, piano prodigy roommate for months now, and the fact that the girl had a girlfriend she brought over to fuck several times a week did nothing to help Maki's predicament. It just made her insanely jealous of a girl she'd never even met.

Finally hearing them calming down, Maki grumpily turned over and tried to fall back asleep, but then noticed the uncomfortable feeling of wet fabric between her thighs.

"...Damn it."

The sun rose and Maki rose with it, as per usual. Though she had the inkling beginning of a headache, as she tended to when she had nights like that. She walked out of her room towards the kitchen; Kaede was definitely at work by now and her girlfriend always left super early. She figured it was so neither of them had to come face to face with the pissed off roommate.

She started a pot of coffee, knowing she was more than capable of finishing off the entire thing, and brought out some toast. She usually ate something of more substance, but it was just a toast and coffee kind of morning.

Sighing to herself, she failed to notice the sound of a door softly shutting and footsteps coming out of Kaede's room.

"Oh," she heard a soft voice from behind her and whirled around. "You must be Kaede's roommate…"

She wanted to be angry enough to snarl at this girl - why was she even here in the first place? - but she stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't been expecting Kaede's lover to be… so pretty. _Fuck, I'm gay…_

A taller, curvy woman stood in front of her. Long, strawberry blonde hair somewhat tousled - bed head and sex hair - tossed over her shoulder. She was adorned in fluffy pink pajama pants and one of Kaede's band t-shirts.

"Sorry, I know I'm usually gone by now…" she murmured, looking embarrassed, "But Kaede woke up not feeling super great, so she called off work and asked me to get some stuff for her."

Maki, suddenly feeling an intense case of cottonmouth, opted to stay silent. She didn't trust herself to not say something rude or gay; or somewhere in between.

The other girl seemed uncomfortable with her silence, and shifted her weight onto her other foot. Though she didn't seem intimidated by Maki's scowling expression.

"Do you guys have any headache medicine? Any aspirin?"

Not saying anything, Maki trotted lightly towards the bathroom and grabbing a bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet. She turned to return to the kitchen, bumping into the chest of someone right behind her.

 _She followed me!?_

And, Maki cursed her gay self. She was just at the right height for her face to be at chest level with her roommate's girlfriend.

"Oh, sorry! I thought you were just showing me where it was. Thanks," the taller woman plucked the bottle right out of Maki's hand, as if the hadn't just scared the living daylights out of her, and went back into the kitchen.

Trying to rub the blush off of her cheeks, Maki followed. The unnamed girlfriend was just… grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water before making her way back to Kaede's room. As if she was already familiar with the place.

"What the fuck…" Maki grumbled quietly to herself.

She was pissed.

Not just because Kaede had her girlfriend over still; though she would have appreciated being able to have her morning to herself as was their usual unspoken tradition.

No. She was upset because she didn't expect Kaede's girlfriend to a) care so much about her and b) be so fucking attractive. She figured that Kaede picked up a fairly pretty girl who she would just have sex with throughout the week. Her own attraction to her roommate must have clouded her judgement.

She was a little disappointed with herself, only making her madder. Of course Kaede wouldn't just "pick up some girl". She was the kind of cheerful, outgoing individual who would fall in love with and cherish a woman. She would treat a girl right; and probably wouldn't stay with someone who wouldn't do the same.

Making out this girl to be some catty, awful creature was most likely a mistake.

And boy was it. The following weeks were a nightmare. She'd learned the girl's name was Miu and she was coming over even more. Not just to seclude herself and Kaede in the bedroom, but Maki began coming home to the two of them watching a movie in the living room. Or Miu cooking in their kitchen. Or the two of them playing monopoly at the dining room table.

Somehow, Kaede's girlfriend had begun integrating herself into both of their lives. And, as much as she wanted to be bothered - as much as Maki wanted to fuss and complain and gripe - she found herself liking this girl.

Miu was vulgar; she was nasty and talked too much and expressed extreme opinions no one really wanted to hear. But she was down to earth and honest and really was considerate, even if she didn't know how to read a room.

She would stop off at the convenience store near their apartment and picked up Maki's favorite coffee on her way to their place. She would do dishes if she noticed them in the sink. She was always tidying up around their place, seemingly never wanting to sit still.

"What's up with Iruma's weird cleaning tick?" she confronted Kaede one afternoon. "She acts like Toujou on crack."

"Ah. Miu just doesn't like not being productive…" She looked troubled. "I've been trying to get her to loosen up a bit and calm down, but I don't think it's working. The only ways she even gets a full night's sleep anymore is… well…" her cheeks burned pink and Maki's heart clenched painfully "You know…"

"Yeah."

Kaede smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, she needs to constantly be doing something. Or so she says. I think it keeps her mind off of stuff. She doesn't like to sit down and think. Or to be left with her own silence, really. I… don't think it's the best place sometimes."

Maki could understand that… to a certain degree. While her own mind wasn't all rainbows and flowers either, she preferred meditated silence to constant chatter. She didn't feel the need to fill the space like Kaede's loud girlfriend.

She found the girl curious. Strange.

Maki began thinking of the girl a lot. Her mannerisms, her attitude, her personality. She was intrigued. _Just what is it that makes her tick?_ Maki wanted to know. _Had_ to know. She found herself with an insatiable thirst for knowledge of this girl and it could only be quenched by figuring out what made those gears go off in that inventor's beautiful blonde head.

Kaede seemed to find her curiosity both endearing and somewhat confusing. She responded happily when Maki prompted her about her girlfriend, seemingly happy that her roommate was finally taking an interest in her relationship. _Not that she needs to know I've been obsessed with her relationship for a while, actually…_

Though Maki could tell there was a part of Kaede that seemed… put off? No. More concerned with her sudden intrigue of her girlfriend. And Maki couldn't blame her. Suddenly having your roommate be all up on your romantic business after meeting your modelesque girlfriend was definitely suspicious, and she knew that. She just couldn't help it. She wanted to know what it was about this girl that Kaede found so attractive. So… dateable.

She wanted to know what Miu had that she didn't.

But it… wasn't quite as clean cut as that either.

There was nothing to be gained by her knowing that Miu liked cinnamon on her oatmeal. She gained no romantic advantage over Miu by knowing her favorite program was the Power Rangers. There was no upper hand in knowing that Miu loved the color pink, liked pressing flowers, and hummed to herself while she worked. Those were all just little things that didn't make or break a relationship.

But she knew. Saw it in the way Miu would cook not only for Kaede but for Maki as well after both of them got home from a long day at work. The way she would sit anxiously, waiting for their approval before digging into her own meal; making sure it was good enough. Saw it in the way that Miu greeted Kaede with kisses and hugs after a rough patch. Saw how much _care_ she put into her love with Maki's roommate.

Maki knew all of this, and felt nothing bitter towards this girl. In fact… she was confused as to how she felt. She should feel resigned or at least… melancholy about how absolutely in love the two blondes were without her. Before Kaede confronted her.

"Are you in love with Miu?"

Kaede had an uncharacteristic frown on her face, as she looked at Maki. She sat cross legged on the stool in front of her and regarded her carefully.

"Huh?"

"You…" she ran a hand through her hair, seemingly frustrated. "Do you like my girlfriend? Like… do you have a crush on her?"

Maki blushed in embarrassment and confusion. "What are you talking about, Kaede? Of course I don't… 'like' your girlfriend."

Kaede looked like she wanted to be relieved, but remained unconvinced. "Are you sure about that, Maki? You've… been rather invested in her, lately."

Maki scowled. "I just wanted to know a bit about her. See where you've been investing all your time. I don't… I'm not interested in _her_ that way."

Kaede's eyes widened somewhat and her lips parted in surprise. "Do you have someone else you like, then?"

 _That was too quick of a shift…_ Carefully, she nodded. "Yeah."

"Who is it?"

She huffed a breath of frustrated air. "It's… not important. They're not single anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"But… you don't know that," she said, very serious. "You never know if someone is poly or not. Maybe they'd be alright with you joining their relationship. Never hurts to ask." Maki couldn't even interrupt Kaede's excited ramblings, she was so taken aback. "At least you'd be getting your feelings off of your chest. Oh!" Kaede wrung her hands for a moment. "Unless you don't like the person they're dating?"

Maki winced. "You… could say that? I mean… it's not entirely true-"

"Then what's the problem?"

Rolling her shoulders, trying to break eye contact Maki grumbled, "It's not that easy, Kaede… even if that was something I wanted to do, there's _no way_ to guarantee everyone involved would be on board. Not everyone is crazy like-"

"Is it me?"

"-you. Huh?"

Kaede, blushing softly, brushed a few stray blond hairs out of her face. "Is it me? The one that you like… Is Miu in your way?"

Maki's heart caught in her throat.

"I'm right, aren't I?" She pressed on in Maki's silence. "You… kept trying to find something wrong with her and then you realized how great she is too. Maki, you like both of us. Can't you see?"

"I have _no_ idea what you're talking about-"

"Oh please!" Kaede threw her hands up in frustration. "You've been tiptoeing around our relationship for months! You used to act like me bringing my girlfriend home was an infestation of some sort and then, you finally meet her and, knowing your gay ass - don't give me that look," she hissed at Maki's indignant stare. "Knowing your gay ass, you fell in love with her at first sight. She's stunning and gorgeous and is actually adorable when she's not being… a lot."

"Kaede-"

"And she makes us dinner and cleans our house and she's just a little too cute when she cries on your shoulder! And you get a little annoyed that she's getting your shirt wet, but she's so precious you can't get mad! And _you_ get mad at _everyone_!"

Maki felt her own tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. She'd never wanted to make Kaede upset… She hadn't even realized she'd been falling for _both_ of them.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be _sorry_!" Kaede huffed, surprising Maki further. "I gave you a solution, and you can either take it and work something out with us or… do what you've gotta do I guess. But Maki, we're not _mad_ at you."

"She knows!?" _Did everyone know except me!?_

Kaede sighed. "Not exactly. She thinks you're mad at her because you're always making sure the two of us are never alone and have been staring at her a lot. She… Look. Miu didn't think I liked her until I basically kissed her and told her 'I love you', okay? She doesn't understand when a person wants to love her versus when someone wants to sleep with her. She's… had a rough time. If we want this to work, both of us need to be completely upfront, honest, and explicit with our affections towards her or she just won't get it."

"... Are you sure this would be okay?"

"We obviously need to talk things out with Miu. She might feel a little overwhelmed. She definitely has no idea; she's not as observant as I am. She might think we're messing with her at first and will probably get a little insecure. If you're not serious about this, don't get involved with her Maki." Kaed glared at her, causing surprising chills to shoot down her spine. "I mean it. She's had too many people hurt her, and I refuse to let you be one of them. Even me. And we've become a package deal; if you want a shot with me, you've got to be good to Miu too. That's just how it's going to have to be."

"I'm…" Maki smiled. "I'm alright with that. Let's talk."

Miu seemed very confused - and noticeably concerned - when Kaede sat her down at the dining room table. The sudden phone call and request for her to come over to their place must have been somewhat jostling.

"We need to talk," Kaede said, placing a comforting hand on her girlfriend's.

Miu visibly paled at that. "A-about wh-what…?"

"Oh, don't be like that Miu," Kaede gave a gentle squeeze. "I'm not breaking up with you and there's nothing 'wrong', okay? We just have some… things to ask you."

"Uh… Okay?"

"I want to date both of you."

" _Maki!"_

"What? You said to be blunt with her."

"Not like that!"

Miu's prior muted disposition flared up and her cheeks burned a vibrant crimson. She deeply inhaled in surprise and leaned back.

"You what?"

Maki turned to her. "I've had a… well… interest," she huffed at Kaede's expression, "Ok, fine. I childishly have had a crush on Kaede for the longest time. I've liked her since before you started dating her. I'm not mad," she reassured her, seeing Miu grimace with guilt. "I mean… not anymore. I'll admit, I wasn't super thrilled with the relationship at first. But… you're wonderful. Both of you are just… great. And I've come to realize I like both of you quite a bit."

Kaede grinned. "What do you say, Miu? Is there room for one more?"

"I've… never done anything like that…"

"Do you like me?" Maki asked, hopeful.

Miu wrung her hands, nervous. "Well… yeah. I… didn't want to say anything to Kaede because I thought she'd be upset with me. I thought it was like cheating…"

Kaede frowned somewhat. "Well I want you to be open with us. If something is bothering you, we can keep an open mind and talk things out. Like right now."

"Okay… Okay yeah. I want to try and make this work."

"Good!" Kaede clapped her hands. "Now that that's settled, let's get something to eat! I'm starved." She bounced up and started putting on a coat. "We can have our first date as a trio!" And she began rambling about an Italian place that was "to die for".

"She's… something else, isn't she?" Maki turned to Miu - now her partner as well.

Miu's lips curled slightly, murmuring, "A real character."

Their hands curled around each other, tentatively, testing it out, as they made their way towards the door to their girlfriend. They would make things work.


End file.
